The mixed martial arts (MMA) fantasy website Kountermove is back with another freeroll for MMAOddsBreaker.com readers. If you’re not familiar with how the site works, here’s a brief snippet from the site owners, themselves.
Kountermove brings the traditional fantasy format to MMA. Accumulation of points and a salary cap make fantasy MMA more intriguing than your basic “pick ’em” contest. With other industry pros on the site it is the place to be if you know your MMA. The game is fairly simple on its face, games are played over a single night during one event. Prior to the event, players get a total of $25,000 fantasy dollars to pick five fighters for your team. Each fighter is given a specific salary by Kountermove. Kountermove assigns a value for each fighter based on how we believe the fight will go. Points are scored if a fighter scores a finish, wins a round, lands significant strikes, knocks an opponent down, scores takedowns, secures dominant positions or attempts submissions. The more dominant your fighters’performance, the more points you’re going to score. If you score more points than your opponents, then you win the money.
To enter the free $250 tournament for MMAOddsBreaker.com readers, just click the link below: https://www.kountermove.com/join/26434-ufc-173-mma-oddsbreaker-250-tourney-on-ufc-173-barao-vs-dillashaw-T-free/ If you don’t have an account, don’t worry, you can create one for free, but do it quickly, spacing is limited! If you’re interested in a few pointers on potential fighters to pick, I’ll be offering my analysis and potential picks to click. In case you have your doubts, I have a very nice track record of success with the website, having won plenty since its inception. Before I get to my picks, remember that to get the best value out of your team, you have to try to get an average of $5000 per fighter with your team of five fighters and your $25,000 salary cap. That means if you want to pick a big favorite from UFC 173 like Renan Barao ($6000), you have to balance it out by picking some underdogs that you think will perform above and beyond. Sometimes it’s not worth it to pick the overwhelming favorite. Without further ado, here are some of the picks that stand out for me: Chris Holdsworth ($4600): Holdsworth is an overwhelming betting favorite heading into this bout, so it comes as a surprise to see him at such a cheap price. His opponent, Chico Camus, is pretty game, but Camus lacks takedown defense and his defensive submission abilities are average at best. That’s a recipe for disaster against a top tier talent like Holdsworth, who will be looking to get this fight to the canvas and finish it early via submission, just like he has in every one of his fights, both professional and on The Ultimate Fighter season 18 (which he won). Holdworth also sports a significant reach advantage so he should be safe on the feet if he can utilize it even a tiny bit. Underdog Pick of the Night Takeya Mizugaki ($4100): This is another case where I feel the Kountermove crew got it wrong with the pricing. Mizugaki is much better than Francisco Rivera in terms of well-rounded skills, yet he’s one of the cheapest fighters on the entire card in regards to Kountermove price. The only thing Mizugaki has to be concerned about against Rivera is his power, but the talented Japanese fighter has never been knocked out in his entire career. Mizugaki will have the edge in technique, both standing and on the ground, and he’ll be bigger than Rivera as well. If you want to load up your team with a heavy favorite like Daniel Cormier or Renan Barao, then Mizugaki is your perfect counter-balance. Fighter to Avoid Aaron Phillips ($5000): Looking at Phillips unblemished record might make you consider putting him on your team, but it’s absolutely not worth it. Phillips is undersized for the featherweight division and he’s stepping in on short notice against a very motivated and hungry Sam Sicilia. While Phillips has pretty solid striking skills, he has a tendency to be patient to a fault and that’s a nightmare scenario if you want to put him on your team. I see Sicilia pressuring Phillips too much, perhaps mixing in takedowns and turning his UFC into more of a whimper than a roar. Complete UFC 173 Preview If my fantasy preview isn’t enough for you, Fight Scientist Reed Kuhn, MMA Oddsmaker Nick Kalikas and myself did an extensive preview of the entire UFC 173 fight card in part one of the Premium Oddscast, which was posted yesterday. Feel free to check out our latest episode. There’s plenty of combinations for great teams with 12 total bouts for this event:
Thanks for reading and good luck!